01 Sep 2024

Teachers’ welfare issues are prerequisite to revitalising and revolutionalising the country’s education system.

Officially opening the 2024 Botswana Sectors of Educators Trade Unions (BOSETU) delegates congress in Palapye on Friday, His Honour the Vice President, Mr Slumber Tsogwane said government acknowledged that teachers’ welfare issues needed to be attended to urgently, least they dampened the morale and positive mindset of teachers.

He noted the student–teacher ratio challenge, saying it needed a workable and sustainable solution. He added that they would continue to engage with the teaching fraternity to find solutions to the challenges.

On issues of transfers, promotions, training, accommodation, digitisation and digital literacy skills, the Vice President said they were integral to improving teachers’ welfare.

The Vice President said in an effort to address some of the challenges, the education ministry took the decision to transfer teachers, where practicable, to areas of their choice or nearer to those areas. He noted that since April 2023, over 720 teachers across the country had been transferred, and that 66 of them were transferred to join their spouses.

Regarding promotions, he said since April 2023 over 900 teachers had been promoted, 285 from the Secondary Education Sector and 623 from the Primary Education Sector. Mr Tsogwane also said 543 teachers went sent for further training in 2024 alone, adding that the ministry would continue to send teachers for further training and utilise scholarships from countries such as Indian and China.

Furthermore, Vice President Tsogwane acknowledged that accommodation for teachers was a challenge, noting that even married teachers shared houses and that it was not ideal. 

However, he said the challenge was not unique only to teachers and that government was working around the clock to address the issue.

On creating a knowledge-based economy, Vice President Tsogwane said schools were connected to free, high-speed Internet under the SmartBots connectivity project. He said there was remarkable progress in incorporating ICT and digitalising the education system and processes. 

He noted the recent launch of the e-Learning content dubbed the Learning Passport, saying it offered pupils access to appropriately targeted learning material that would enable learners to engage with the curriculum to achieve specified outcomes.

He highlighted that over 52 000 laptops had been distributed to teachers and learners across 34 senior secondary schools, adding that it was part of the digitalisation drive and Reset Agenda.

Mr Tsogwane further said an efficient, effective and result driven education system could graduate one from a low economic status to a high status and that a properly designed and ambitious education system could transform a low economy country to a higher economic status. 

“Systematic and periodic reviews of our education offers us the opportunity to transform and align it with the dictates of modern-day education that places emphasis on science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics, commonly referred to as STEAM,’’ he said. 

He also noted that the skills needed for success in the 21st Century were vastly different from those needed a few decades ago. 

The Vice President acknowledged that even in the era of Artificial Intelligence,  a teacher remained irreplaceable in facilitating learning and producing human capital. Ends